Anime Talk: Wolf Children

Recently, I decided that I should really watch some of the movies I've been planning to watch for a while now. So, I went ahead and rented a few of them. Most of them are Hollywood movies but there are a few that are animated movies. One of the first ones I grabbed was Wolf Children or, if we go by its Japanese name, The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki. 

I have been wanting to watch Wolf Children for a while now as many of my friends and former classmates have raved endlessly about the movie. I wasn't sure what to expect to be honest. But after settling down snugly in my living room to watch it from beginning to end I TOTALLY GET IT. 

The movie is told from the perspective of an adult Yuki who is reminiscing and relaying the story of her mother Hana. Hana was a young college student when she met Yuki's father, a young man who is very reserved and is attending her college lectures without actually being a student himself. Hana notices that he doesn't have a textbook and offers to lend him hers. This eventually buds into a romance between the two, with Hana slowly but surely, getting past the young man's tough exterior and getting to know him little by little. One day however (it's Christmas if I remember correctly) he arrives VERY late to their scheduled date. He apologizes to Hana and finally reveals his secret - he is a werewolf! The last of his kind, he was raised in the country by relatives who knew nothing about his origins following the death of his parents. He decided to come to the city for work and lives a lonely life, keeping to himself due to his secret. While surprised, Hana accepts him for who he is and they soon begin a family. Yuki is born first and then one year later, Ame is born. 

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Why yes, this is really late because like, this movie came out last year and yet here I am writing about it. Why? Well, simply put, I haven't watched it. Well, should I say, I hadn't watched until this afternoon. I was unable to see the final installment in The Hobbit in theaters and opted to buy it as soon as it came on DVD. Then, it promptly sat in my room for weeks because I refused to watch it. And I refused to watch it for one simple reason: I didn't want it to end.

There are times when a story captivates me so strongly and I am so emotionally invested in the plot and the characters that I refuse to see a story to its end. I will literally set the series/movie/book aside and wait a while until I finally gather the courage to watch the ending. This happened when I read the final chapter of the Naruto manga, when I finished reading the Harry Potter books, when I got to the end of the Rose of Versailles anime - I mean, this happens A LOT. A lot more than it should actually. But finishing this amazing journey into Middle Earth was one of the hardest to complete.

Anime Talk: Conqueror of Shamballa

So, it has happened. I have watched Conqueror of Shamballa (to be honest, I watched it yesterday but I didn't want to blog about it right after as it probably would have been an incoherent post). For those that haven't watched it, there are major spoilers in here, so be warned! Back to the movie - I was honestly confused during the first 5 or so minutes, because I seriously thought the first half of the movie was going to be a summary of everything that had happened in the anime series. However, it quickly switched to Ed and Al?? Well, yes, Ed is speaking with Alphonse, but not the Al we all know and love but the Al that exists on the other side of the gate. From there, the movie begins to unfold pretty quickly. While Ed is on one side of the wall, trying to find a way to get back to his world and helping a gypsy fortuneteller on the way, Al is on the other side, studying alchemy and developing an uncanny resemblance to his elder brother. Seriously, you can mistake Al easily for Ed if it weren't for the different bangs. I thought this was a neat quirk as throughout the series, it's Ed that is constantly mistaken for Al due to his stature. And speaking of stature...Ed has grown taller! The topic of Ed's height makes for some great comical moments in the movie as Ed seems to take just as much offense when people mention that he's taller as when he was being teased for being short.